The present invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for packaging antenna devices and, in particular, apparatus and methods for packaging antenna chips to thereby form compact integrated radar, radio or wireless communications systems for high frequency applications.
Antenna structures are used in a variety of applications. Communication devices are equipped with antennas to enable wireless communication between devices in network systems such as wireless PAN (personal area network), wireless LAN (local area network), wireless WAN (wide area network), cellular network systems, and other types of radio systems.
Further applications include radar sensors, for example in the frequency range between 76 GHz and 81 GHz, which have gained importance in a variety of technical fields like automotive technology (collision avoidance, pre crash safety, etc.), motion sensoring in households and the like.
With conventional radar, radio or wireless communications systems, discrete components are individually encapsulated or individually mounted with low integration levels on printed circuit boards, packages or substrates. This usually causes significant losses at those high operating frequencies. At the same time, the miniaturization of the systems becomes more important, as robustness and reliability are required in the respective environments. Accordingly, there is a desire to package these electronic devices more densely. This, however, poses a number of challenges to designers, as high frequency appliances have to be integrated in hermetically closed packages while at the same time minimizing degrading effects on the emission characteristics and efficiency of the applied antennas.
Hence, there is a need for a technology to integrate antenna structures into a package and to improve the emission behavior of a radar antenna structures which are encapsulated in a package.